Synopsis

A farmer living in a lakeside village becomes infatuated with a woman from the city, who urges him to murder his wife and begin a new life with her. As the husband and wife travel into the city, their troubled marriage gradually gives way to renewed affection. F. W. Murnau's visually expressive drama explores temptation, guilt, forgiveness, and the possibility of redemption.

Factoids & Trivia

• The screenplay by Carl Mayer was adapted from Hermann Sudermann's short story "The Excursion to Tilsit."

• Sunrise was F. W. Murnau's first American film. Fox Film Corporation gave him unusually broad creative freedom and allowed him to bring members of his German production team to Hollywood.

• The production used elaborate sets, forced perspective, miniatures, and extensive camera movement. The city exterior was constructed at Fox Hills in West Los Angeles and later became known as Movietone City.

• Although generally regarded as a silent film, Sunrise was released in a Fox Movietone version with a synchronized musical score and sound effects. It contained no conventional spoken dialogue and was among the earliest feature films to use an optical soundtrack.

• The village scenes were filmed around Lake Arrowhead, while many of the film's atmospheric interiors and marsh sequences were created in the studio.

• Sunrise received three awards at the first Academy Awards ceremony, including the unique award for "Unique and Artistic Production," an honor that was never awarded again.

• The film was not a major commercial success on its initial release, but its visual style and moving camera work later established it as one of the defining achievements of silent cinema.